Archive for May, 2012

Abandoned litter of puppies is latest find in Kidderminster

Dog wardens from Worcestershire Regulatory Services are appealing for information after members of the public found seven 10-day-old puppies abandoned together with their mother in a secluded area last week.

Found huddled together by two walkers away from busy routes by an industrial estate in Hampton Lovett near Kidderminster on Monday May 14, the tiny dogs and their mother have been temporarily housed with an RSPCA foster home but will all require re-homing if they are to have a future. The mother of the seven strong litter is a german shepherd cross, and a 10 month old male bull mastiff cross was also recovered from the scene.

The authorities are also appealing for information related to the abandoned dogs.

Dog warden for Worcestershire Regulatory Services Pip Singleton said: “It’s heart wrenching to see defenceless young animals abandoned. They were found huddled against the cold with their mother. We are appealing to anyone that might have any information on this to come forward in absolute confidence, because abandonment and causing undue suffering to animals is not just cruel, it’s an offence that we will seek to enforce where possible.

“We’re very lucky that RSPCA Worcester was able to find these young dogs a temporary foster home, but they will need new homes. We would also urge anyone that may want to offer a dog a home to contact us on 01527 881395, and if you can’t offer one of these puppies or adults a home but would like to contribute to the upkeep of their care, we can also provide details on donating to the charity that is currently caring for them.”

Above: The abandoned puppies will need new homes if they are to have a future.

Worcestershire County Council to put disabled into care

Under new proposals from Worcestershire County Council, some disabled people who are currently active in their communities may be forced into care homes, if this was the cheaper option.

In a consultation document, “Maximum Expenditure Policy”, Worcestershire County Council proposes to put a cap on all new applications for adult social care, in an about turn to the Council’s commitment to Independent Living. This capping will also apply to those people who are already established in their communities, if they need to be reassessed.

“The consultation process has been poorly publicised,” complained Simon Heng, former chair of the Worcestershire Association of Service Users, “I only found out about the public consultation meeting in Kidderminster Town Hall (on 15 May) four days before it took place. There must be many other people who could be affected, who would have wanted to attend, but were not aware that it was happening” As a result, at the consultation meeting in Kidderminster – one of only three planned open consultations across the county – there were only a handful of members of the public in addition to members and supporters of Wcil. The next open event is at the Wendron Centre, Chapel Street, Bromsgrove at 11 am. on the 28th May. Many of those who did attend expressed a wide variety of concerns, including the fate of informal carers, who may lose their homes if their relatives were forced into residential care and the jobs of personal assistants employed by disabled people currently living independently.

Representatives of the county council could not say how many people this proposal might affect, or what the capping limit would be at today’s costs. Even though WCC is aware that another source of funding, the Independent Living Fund, is likely to end in 2015 (which would affect the care budgets of many disabled people) no contingency plans have been made for this.

Winston Davis, a co-chair of The Worcestershire Coalition for Independent Living and Chair of WASU, the Worcestershire Coalition of Service Users, said “I am opposed to these proposals… Officers should explore more widely how to meet service users care needs. I do not think the council has considered the many social implications, particularly possible family breakup. The estimated savings of £200,000 in the first year does not warrant the potential social disruption. Many people, who have contributed much to their communities, now risk being marginalised.”

Simon Heng asked “We know the county council has to make tough choices in these times of tight budgets. But how many potholes are going to be filled for £200,000? Is your smoother car ride really worth the freedom of the most vulnerable in our communities? I will be asking my county councillor which way they will be voting on this matter in the autumn, and I urge anyone who is concerned, or who has a relative or neighbour who might be affected, to do the same.” It could be you or yours next!

Police thank public for support as EDL march ends

Taxi Drivers Strike in Protest at EDL March

Like many people in Redditch i witnessed the marches by the UAF and EDL on Saturday.

About 1200 residents also watched from around the church, market, and the War Memorial area of the town centre outnumbering both groups of protesters.

Taxi drivers also held a strike in protest at the EDL march and is due to end at 6am Sunday morning.

Both the EDL and UAF protest groups said that this was the largest number of police officers they have ever seen for a local demo.

The police can take some credit from the fact only three arrests were made and these were for very minor offences.

West Mercia Police have thanked the public for their support in ensuring the English Defence League rally in Redditch passed off peacefully.

Around 40 EDL supporters gathered to hear speeches at the bandstand in Church Green West this afternoon in Redditch.

Approximately 200 counter EDL demonstrators gathered in Easemore Road. However, the rally finished with only three arrests, one man for breach of the peace and two men on suspicion of assault.

Police say all three are believed to have been attached to the counter EDL demonstration. Once EDL supporters had listened to speeches at the bandstand they were escorted by police back to the railway station where they had arrived earlier.

Counter EDL demonstrators held a short gathering at the bandstand before dispersing.

“ “The success of the operation is due to a number of factors, not least the support from partner agencies who helped in preparing the town for today’s event and the fantastic co-operation we have had from the public.

“A significant number of officers and staff were involved in policing the protest and we would like to pay tribute to the professionalism of our colleagues from British Transport Police and neighbouring forces who were involved.

We are grateful for their support. – Superintendent Adrian Pass of West Mercia Police

About 1200 residents watched the Demonstrations by the UAF and EDL around the town centre, church, and market area.

The Police deserve credit for the policing on the day as Redditch on the whole remained peaceful.

crowds gathered in Redditch for the Halfords tour series

Team UK Youth win Redditch Round Four

Niklas Gustavsson took a first ever Halfords Tour Series victory for Team UK Youth, and the first for a rider from Sweden, swooping to victory on a challenging Redditch circuit.
The charity backed UK Youth team couldn’t overturn the Endura applecart however, with the orange clad quintet once again taking victory in the all-important team’s classification to make it four wins from four in the 2012 Halfords Tour Series.
Gustavsson outsprinted breakaway companions Dean Windsor, Bernard Sulzberger and Kristian House up the punishing final climb of Unicorn Hill to the finish taking not only the first Series win for Team UK Youth rider, but also the first for a rider from outside of the Endura Racing, Rapha Condor Sharp and Node4 – Giordana triumvirat since Tony Gibb at Canary Wharf in the opening round of 2010.
Behind the Swede Endura placed riders in second, fifth and seventh to comfortably take a fourth win of 2012, although UK Youth once again placed four riders in the top ten, showing their time will soon come.
The topsy-turvy nature of the battle to hang onto Endura’s coattails continued, with Node4 – Giordana Racing taking third on the night, despite only starting four riders, to ensure second to fifth overall are separated by just three four points.
In hot and sunny conditions, with large crowds once again heading to the Series, the pace was initially easy, but the battle for Boardman Bikes Sprints points between Sulzberger and Marcel Six sparked the race into life.
Durham winner House went clear, soon being joined by Windsor as the pair fought out the second Boardman Bikes Sprint. Sulzberger then crossed to them before the duo of Matt Cronshaw and Gustavsson fought their way across.
The five worked well and built up a minute’s lead around the Choose How You Move Redditch circuit, and with five teams represented in front there was a ceasefire from the main field, who would instead battle it out for the all-important second and third placings.
Onto the final lap and the five strong break were reduced to four when Cronshaw crashed on a corner with just a few hundred metres to go. Gustavsson took the initiative and attacked at the foot of Unicorn Hill but despites the efforts of Windsor to chase the UK Youth rider held firm in front through the final sweeping right hander to take the win.
Afterwards he reserved some praise for the Worcestershire crowd.
“It was an amazing atmosphere here. It’s the first event here and it was really good. I am very pleased to see such a big crowd tonight,” said Niklas Gustavsson.
“It was a big win for me tonight, I’ve been really looking forward to having a win because last year I came second and all I wanted to do was have a win. It feels great. It’s always great to cross the line first, especially in front of some of these guys.”
Second placed Dean Windsor was also pleased by the support the riders received on the roads of Redditch, saying, “The noise tonight was phenomenal. Redditch put on a really good show. I really hope we come back here next year. The crowds got right behind it. They’re a friendly bunch here and I really want to come back.

“It was quite difficult, it was quite a fast decent and then it dragged all the way up. The last hill was really steep so you had to use all the power you had to get up there. One of the best Tour Series we’ve had I think.”
Kirkcaldy and Oxford winner Thwaites continued his good form by taking the bunch sprint for fourth, after the demise of Cronshaw, who tailed in 34th.
Endura Racing now have a maximum 40 points from the opening rounds, with a lead that now stands at nine points over nearest placed challengers Team UK Youth.
At the other end of the standings Herbalife LeisureLakesBikes and Team Hope Factory Racing remained locked in an intriguing battle level on nine points, with the former picking up an impressive seventh on the evening, ahead of UCI Continental squad Team IG – Sigma Sport, who had an evening to forget
Sulzberger cemented his lead atop the Boardman Bikes Sprints competition, keeping hold of the yellow jersey going into the Aberystwyth round, with a win in Redditch to move 12 points clear of Metaltek Scott’s Marcel Six, with House in third a further two points behind.
Highlights of Round Four from Redditch will be shown on ITV4 at 20:00 on Friday 25th May. The Halfords Tour Series swings back into action for its third round of the week, with Round Five of the Series on Friday 25th May for the only Welsh round of 2012 in Aberystwyth.
Round Five forms part of the Aberystwyth Cycle Festival, with a number of support races taking place during Friday afternoon, while the festival will culminate in the arrival of the Olympic Torch in the Welsh resort on Sunday 27th May.

The Halfords Tour Series is a sister event to The Tour of Britain, the UK’s biggest professional cycle race, which takes place every September. To take on the challenge of riding a Tour of Britain route in a Tour Ride, head to www.tourride.co.uk to find our more and to register for your challenge!

Police Plan Under Way For EDL Demo In Redditch

Pubs in the town centre will be closed from 1pm till 4pm on Saturday

West Mercia Police is aware of an English Defence League procession that is planned for Redditch on Saturday 26 May.

Superintendent Adrian Pass, police commander for North Worcestershire, said: “We are working closely with Redditch Borough Council and other partner agencies to ensure that any EDL event that takes place causes as little disruption to the people of Redditch as is possible.

“Our operational planning for the day is progressing well and once these plans are finalised we will make them public so that local residents understand what to expect.

“Our first priority will be to inform residents and businesses directly affected by the procession about our plans, but we will also release these details to a wider audience via the local media once they are finalised.

“I would ask people to remember that we simply cannot stop EDL members from coming to Redditch to hold a lawful protest. However, we will make sure than everyone attending the protest understands their legal responsibilities and also warn them that anyone who does break the law can expect to be dealt with very robustly.

“I would like to take this opportunity to reassure local people that a significant police presence will be on duty on the day and that we will have resources available that will allow us to deal with every likely eventuality.”

EDL to hold demonstration in Redditch on Saturday May 26th

The EDL plan a march in Redditch on May 26th after an earlier march in April was cancelled.

An EDL official said

The reason Redditch had been chosen as a venue for a protest is that there is evidence of possible Islamic grooming.

The local press initially publicised it but withdrew the articles when people started to comment.

The problem of Islamic grooming is one that people are finally waking up to.

People are at last beginning to understand that there is a pattern behind this grooming but there are still people who cling to the belief that it’s not happening or that a certain section of the community is behind it, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

The UAF plan a counter demonstration in Redditch on the same day.

Police Planning Under Way For EDL Event In Redditch

West Mercia Police is aware of an English Defence League procession that is planned for Redditch on Saturday 26 May.

Superintendent Adrian Pass, police commander for North Worcestershire, said: “We are working closely with Redditch Borough Council and other partner agencies to ensure that any EDL event that takes place causes as little disruption to the people of Redditch as is possible.

“Our operational planning for the day is progressing well and once these plans are finalised we will make them public so that local residents understand what to expect.

“Our first priority will be to inform residents and businesses directly affected by the procession about our plans, but we will also release these details to a wider audience via the local media once they are finalised.

“I would ask people to remember that we simply cannot stop EDL members from coming to Redditch to hold a lawful protest. However, we will make sure than everyone attending the protest understands their legal responsibilities and also warn them that anyone who does break the law can expect to be dealt with very robustly.

“I would like to take this opportunity to reassure local people that a significant police presence will be on duty on the day and that we will have resources available that will allow us to deal with every likely eventuality.”

The EDL April statement in full

Easter is rapidly approaching and many of you will be eager to attend the demonstration in Redditch on Saturday 7th of April.

The reason Redditch had been chosen as a venue for a protest is that there is evidence of possible Islamic grooming.

The local press initially publicised it but withdrew the articles when people started to comment.

The problem of Islamic grooming is one that people are finally waking up to.

People are at last beginning to understand that there is a pattern behind this grooming but there are still people who cling to the belief that it’s not happening or that a certain section of the community is behind it, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

That is why the English Defence League was to be in Redditch on that Saturday.

Unfortunately, we have to postpone the demonstration. Many of you will wonder why this has happened and to quell any possible wild rumours we’ve decided to immediately explain exactly why the plug has been pulled on the demo.

It appears that there is to be a multi-Christian faith event on the same day. Pastor Jim Hidderley, spokesperson for this event, has spoken with our regional organisers and requested that we postpone our demonstration.

Given that the Easter period is of such significance to Christians, we have agreed. It is this kind of co-operation between the EDL and local communities that goes unreported by the mainstream media.

We do not intend to cause division or disharmony within local communities, but only to raise awareness about a problem that exists right across the country.

A problem that cuts across race, culture and communities. It hurts the very thing that Islam says it stands for – families. We won’t stop highlighting the damaging effects that Islam is having on communities around the country and we will not cease to highlight the numerous cases of Muslim men grooming non-Muslim girls.

We wish the Christian community of Redditch well for their day on Saturday 7th, and we wish all of Redditch a happy Easter holiday.

West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) will have a more robust process for charging for call outs to non-emergency incidents with effect from Monday 14 May 2012.

The change comes into place following revision of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 which came into force on 18 February 2012 and sets new guidelines and freedoms for fire authorities on charging for services carried out by fire and rescue services.

As a result of this change in legislation, WMFS will now challenge all requests for non-emergency assistance, outlining the approximate cost of attendance to the customer, who will then be asked to confirm whether or not they wish to proceed with a brigade response.

Watch Commander Wesley Williams from WMFS’ Emergency Response Team explained, “We must ensure that genuine emergencies, which require the use of our specialist resources, receive a priority response.

“People call 999 and ask us to attend incidents when there is clearly no emergency, risk of danger, or threat to life; and we are not explicitly funded to do this”

The types of non-emergency incidents which callers often request WMFS to attend include lock outs, animal rescues, clearance of debris and the removal of flood water. In most cases, these types of incident should be dealt with by the appropriate service provider, tradesperson, or landlord.

Anyone requesting non-emergency assistance will now be advised that they will be expected to cover the call out and attendance costs. This is calculated on a cost recovery basis which is currently £412.80 including VAT, per fire appliance/specialist vehicle, per hour.

WMFS has a statutory duty to effectively respond to fires, road traffic collisions and other emergencies and it is vital that it prioritises these core functions of its businesses.

Vij Randeniya, Chief Fire Officer said, “We have made no secret of the financial difficulties we are currently facing and with potential funding cuts of up to £30 million, it is clear we have to prioritise our resources.

“I am committed to ensuring that the people of the West Midlands receive the best possible service from us, and I hope they will support us by only using 999 for genuine emergencies”.

Labour will now control the council having got the 15 seats needed but will they keep any of the promises made?.

The conservatives now have 14 seats and labour 15. The Lib-Dems lost the only seat they had on the council and would have been the king-maker had they won. The Green Party did well pushing the LibDems in to third place in some wards . Paul Swansborough the independent candidate for Winyates also got a good vote.

But the council is now dominated by just two parties and that is bad for democracy and bad for Redditch.

Bill Hartnett was re-elected in Church Hill despite living in Bromsgrove, he was nominated by the former labour leader convicted fraudster Dave Cartwright who was given three years jail for stealing cash from a homeless charity he ran.

Bill Hartnett is now the new labour leader of the council .

It was a shock that a lot of people couldn’t even place a cross in the box on the ballot paper.

It’s not rocket science but people seem to have found it difficult to place a cross in a box.

But apathy won again in every ward as between 67% and 77% of people didn’t bother voting. Greenlands saw the lowest turnout at just 23%.

The political parties should take the very low turnouts as the strongest warning yet that just maybe one day people will be fed up enough to go out and vote and give them all a kicking.

The political parties rely on apathy and low turnouts to help them win.

Every year that passes turnout gets lower that means the people fed up is getting larger and larger, the way elections are going turnout will be as low as 13% in a few years time and is awake up call for all the candidates.

Redditch election results ward by ward are below.

Redditch Labour Budget Proposal but will any of the promises made be kept?

I agree with most of Labours budget proposals, but i think it’s a bithypocritical of them to moan about £88,000 on consultants fees when they wasted £644,000 in just one year on a pop concert with z list acts.

Our Budget was about supporting as many people in Redditch as possible during these tough times.

When young people’s services are being cut by 55%,

When pensioners on fixed incomes feel the rise in fuel bills & VAT.

When disabled people are living in worse poverty than able-bodied people and having to now pay for parking at the Alex.

Pensioners, young people & disabled people are being hit hard by the Conservatives both locally and nationally.

This is why Labours Budget included bringing back free-swimming for the under 16s and the over 60s, to make sure local people could enjoy the new Abbey Stadium & Kingsley Sports Centre, while benefiting from regular exercise, regardless of having less money in their pocket.

When the Tories at Borough & County Council decided to no longer fund bus travel for pre 9.30 for pensioners and disabled people, your Labour Councillors listened to the difficulties this caused these two groups. Pensioners reported problems getting to doctors and hospital appointments and disabled people had a number of issues trying to get to college or work.

Labour Councillors know the difference that getting out and about on the bus can make to people’s lives and have found funds to return free bus travel for pre – 9.30 for pensioners and disabled people.

When youth unemployment is over 1 million, your Labour Councillors want Redditch Borough Council to do more to help employ young people.

We have looked at services we contract out and can afford to create a job for an apprentice and which would save £22,000. This is just the start of how the Council can train local unemployed young people and give them a trade. How we can afford this:

Withdraw the £88,600 for consultants that the Tories have budgeted for. In each of the next 3 years.

The Labour Party wasted £644,00 on an Air Festival in just one year when they last controlled the council.

We would scrap the pay and display which cost the Conservative Council £2000 a year to collect the car parking fees!

We would not spend £17,000 a year to produce the Council magazine Redditch Matters. ( it cost £19,000 last year).

Our Budget balanced over 3 years and was checked and verified by the Redditch Borough Council Treasurer and spent less money than the Tories Budget. The Labour Budget ensured Council Tax would not rise and Labour Councillors therefore voted to keep Council Tax at the same level as last year. Unfortunately the Tories accused Labour of writing the budget on the back of a fag packet.

It’s a tragedy that the Tories do not understand they could make life easier for our young, old and disabled people if they supported our Budget to scrap wasting money on consultants and magazines.

But didn’t labour start the magazine in the first place my memory must be better than his